Review of Closer (2013) by Joshua B — 15 Jan 2010

"Eh" is all I can really say for this one. The ideas behind it are great, but the painful part of the film is knowing what it wants to do, but not doing it well. The jump around the story line feels forced; like this was the next part of the story they wanted to tell but had no clue how to get there.

Julia Roberts was horribly miscast. The scene where she is begging for Dan's love to not seep through was just awful. It could have been powerful, but she doesn't know how to act. However, Jude Law, Natalie Portman, and Clive Owen are great.

The film itself just feels like a sappy sitcom. It's shot in such a bland way that I just felt sorry for Mike Nichols thinking it was a good idea. And the very last scene in the movie is just ridiculous.

And yes, Damien Rice is a great musician, but why must you use the same song over and over again? Is it because the movie never changes pace and feels exactly the same all the way through? Probably. I do like the way the characters are written though.

It takes great skill to write so intricately. Even though Dan seems like the bad one at first, I realized by the end of it that they all were horrible and Dan was just needing to see what he had. How could Alice and Anna be drawn to a perverted man such as Larry? How was Dan able to fall for Anna so quickly? At first I thought they had met before that first scene, but they say something later that apparently they hadn't.

Way to make it pretty unbelievable. And the twist in the end about Alice's name was just ridiculous. It was a "oh that's cool" moment without much meaning. I guess there are it's high points, but mainly the movie is just "eh.

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